Eventuality
by lovesickredhead
Summary: how James fell in love with Lily. the story is way better than the summary
1. Chapter 1

From the moment James Potter opened his eyes that morning he felt strange, as though something great was about to happen, some

From the moment James Potter opened his eyes that morning he felt strange, as though something great was about to happen, something life-changing, something to push his life out of its mind-numbing drudgery into something spectacular.

It was a very strange day.

It began normally enough. Sirius woke him up by jumping on him as he did every morning, the toast was burnt again and Transfiguration was very nearly murder.

It was just preceding the fourth lesson of the day that something extremely important, which actually looked insignificant happened to put his strange mood into perspective. It was simply a conversation with his best friend that set the ball rolling.

She smelled of flowers and tasted like sin.

_In your fantasies, anyway._

James sighed as he watched her stride elegantly down the corridor away from him. She didn't even know he existed, yet he insisted on torturing himself with watching her, wanting her. She was worth it. To him, Lily Evans was heaven, she was perfection, she was-

_Totally out of your league._

That was the sad fact of their relationship. He worshiped her; she thought he was a moron. It was unfair really, because he had never-

His thoughts came to an unwelcome halt as he was slapped rather viciously over the back of the head with a rolled up copy of the 'Daily Prophet'. "OW!!"

"Pull yourself together, mate. She is never going to notice you." Sirius slung an arm around James' neck and proceeded to drag him in the opposite direction.

He tried in vain to pull himself away but after a few moments struggling resigned himself to the fact that no one could escape the Black death hold. "I don't know what you're talking about! I was merely casually observing."

_HA! What you were doing would be better described as 'stalking'. _  
Sirius patted him on the head jovially. "Stop kidding yourself, mate. What about her?" He pointed to a tall brunette giggling madly and trying unsuccessfully to smoulder at them. "Kimberley Mulchester or Manchester or whatever. Something with chest in the middle. She'll do- nice bum, nice face, bit annoying but can't ask for everything, can you?"

"She's not my type!" In fact, he considered her rather loathsome.

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Yeah, and what is your type? Girls who have red hair and green eyes and just so happen to go by the name Lily Evans?"

James went red- partly from embarrassment and partly because Sirius' arm was starting to cut off his air supply- and choked out, "What do you care?"

This seemed to surprise his captor enough that James was able to yank himself free and storm off in a huff.

"What? I care." Sirius was left talking to an empty corridor and yelled after his friend, "I CARE!!"

"This is for you." Sirius waltzed into the Boys' Dormitory and dropped a tiny object wrapped in his school tie into his friend's bed.

"What is it?" James asked suspiciously. The last time he'd accepted one of Sirius' so-called 'gifts' he'd ended up with green hair for a week.

But Sirius just grinned smugly, extremely pleased with himself. "It's to show you I do care. It's to help you with Evans."

James unravelled the parcel to have a small gold hourglass drop into his palm. He knew what this was but had no idea how he'd come by one. It wasn't the sort of thing you find just lying around. "A time turner? But how did you…" he trailed off and suddenly gaped at his friend. "You- You- Tell me you didn't get this where I think you got it?"

"Yep." He grinned.

James put his head in his hands, not quite able to believe it. "So when you…"

"Yep."

"You actually…"

"Yep."

"You idiot."

"What?" Sirius frowned. "I thought you'd be happy."

James laughed ironically and began to pace. "You thought I'd be _happy _that you set a fellow student's hair on fire-"

"You have to admit that was funny!" he burst in.

"- To get sent to the Headmaster's Office. Then to round off a good day you steal from bloody _Dumbledore_! Of course I'm mad, Padfoot, you could be expelled!"

"Ooh," said Sirius, his eyebrows raised. "I _knew _you'd be no fun. The Top Nacho didn't notice anything so what's the problem?"

"First of all, stop calling Dumbledore the 'Top Nacho' and second of all he _would_ have noticed. He doesn't miss a trick." But, James suddenly thought, if the Headmaster hadn't wanted it gone, he would never have allowed Sirius to take it. That got him thinking. Did he…Surely not…Could - Could Dumbledore actually want him to use it?

"Padfoot, how did you think this would help me with Lily?"

"Erm…" Sirius rubbed his chin, thoughtfully. "You could just- well….maybe- if she…Oh, I don't know!" he snapped, sitting down on his bed, sulkily. "It was just lying there, on his desk, practically screaming 'Take me!' I thought it might be useful."

_You should return it. It'd be the proper thing to do._

James furrowed his brow, pursed his lips and began to pace. "So Dumbledore just _happened_ to leave a time turner lying around? Since when does Dumbledore do anything by accident? Every teacher in the school knows to lock away anything even vaguely interesting once a Marauder is in the room. So…did he want you to get it? For me? Hmm…interesting."

"Interesting?"

James grinned mischievously. "Very interesting."

Sirius flopped down onto his bed and asked, with a smile, "Do I sense a plan coming on?"

"Yes, my friend," said James. "I believe you do."

_And yet why do I have a bad feeling about this?_


	2. Chapter 2

Part Two

**Part Two**

James slowly climbed towards consciousness and waited for Sirius to jump on him like he had at eight o' clock every morning for the past five years; his own personal alarm clock. But the usual yells of "get up get up get up get up" never came.

He gingerly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, wondering what had happened to his best friend.

It was nearing thirty seconds before he realised that it wasn't his ceiling he was staring at.

With a shriek, he sprang out of bed to find that whoever had kidnapped him had stripped him naked first. He frantically yanked on a pair of pyjama bottoms he found slung across the bottom of the bed and stared about the room, trying not to panic.

Where the hell was he?

It looked like a pretty normal bedroom to him- bed, wardrobe, desk, knick-knacks…Nothing even vaguely threatening at all.

James paused for a second, his hands on his hips, and took a deep calming breath as he tried to work out what was happening. He was still James Potter. He hadn't lost his memory. He _knew_ that he was James Potter. He felt a bit weird, though. As a normal 15-year-old boy he was constantly plagued by muscles that were fraught with a strange tension. Sirius insisted hat it'd disappear if he 'got some' and James was inclined to agree with him as even the hours of hard training he'd forced himself to endure had done nothing to ease his aching body. But now, in this strange place, he was blessedly free of the tension that had dogged him. In fact…he felt great. Apart from being scared out of his wits, his body felt rested, relaxed and perfectly comfortable with itself. If he didn't know better he would've suspected that he had, indeed, 'got some' last night.

But that was impossible. Mainly, because he was positive that even if he was unconscious at the time he'd still somehow know, and secondly, he couldn't bring himself to face the possibility that he _had_ 'got some' and slept through it.

Then it all came thundering back to him. He had thought it'd be an excellent idea to indulge in a spot of time travelling at Dumbledore's obvious behest, of course. He'd go to the future, have a nosy around, maybe meet up with the future-Marauders and be back at Hogwarts in time for tea, fully satisfied that he had a bright future ahead of him. Now that he was here, alone, in a strange place, a strange time, _naked_, he felt rather differently on the subject.

Why did his bright ideas always end in the same way? Why did _every one_ of his plans backfire-

_Because you don't plan, you plot, and every plot is terrible and irresponsible in the first place. How do you expect to accomplish anything if you never prepare properly? _

Oh no. He was hearing _her_ again. It had started in his third year when suddenly one day her voice popped into his head, giving advice, lecturing, berating, shouting…Sirius insisted he was mentally ill and he was inclined to agree.

_You deserve everything you get! If you had stopped Black from stealing that time turner none of this would have happened-_

It wasn't my fault! He stole it, not me!

_Hmph, I'm sure. Really, you should try to control-_

A sound drifted through the bedroom floor, startling him from his internal argument. It was the voice of an angel voice gurgling what he thought sounded a bit like 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. His heart sped and he slowly crept towards the bathroom where the unknown person sang loudly in the shower. He put his ear against the door, desperate to know who it was. Unless Sirius had had a sex change that was definitely a woman. And the simple gold wedding ring on his finger seemed to indicate it was _his _wife humming a guitar solo badly. His WIFE.

He almost passed out. He was married? He was still at school! Anyway, he was way too stupid! Who in their right mind would marry him?

That thought brought to mind millions of horrid possible scenarios- what if he'd married that horrible girl Sirius had wanted him to go out with? What if his parents had gotten their way and he'd been landed with a trophy wife? What if Sirius had taken him to a seedy bar in Mexico, and gotten him drunk, married him off to the highest bidder, ran off to Bermuda with the money, and he, James, was destined to live the life of a sexual slave for ever and ever?

He couldn't stand it anymore. If he was someone's bitch he wanted to know about it.

He knocked on the door.

"Morning!" the woman (at least, thank _Agrippa_, it was a woman) yelled. He strained to identify her voice but the spraying water was making it impossible. "Want to join me?"

His legs nearly gave way at the very thought. Obviously it wasn't a marriage of convenience. But just who was issuing the invitation? There was only one way to find out-

_No, you can't! What do you think that would sound like coming from her husband?_

He shrugged.

"This might sound odd but…who are you?"

To his immense surprise she let out a peal of laughter. "God, not again! Do we have to do this every morning? Yes, I actually married you- get over it!"

"No- I need to know your name!" he persisted.

"Well, if you're so insistent- come in and see for yourself!"

Trying to ignore the clear invitation in her voice, he slowly eased the door open and stepped inside the steam-filled room, telling himself this was something he really couldn't avoid. He needed to know if he'd married a monster.

_It's probably Moaning Myrtle, you know. She's got a lovely singing voice and she does like bathrooms._

With mounting fear he braced himself for the worst and drew back the shower curtain.

His mind was completely devoid of thought, suspended in time, frozen in pure shock. He could only stare numbly as she turned and curved her lips into a smile. "Hi," she said, grinning, seductively.

And that was when he fainted.


	3. Chapter 3

'Enervate'

_'Enervate'_

James groaned. His head was pounding as though a gnome had taken up residence inside his skull and was proceeding to bash its way out with a polo mallet. Either that or he had a hangover, which would be strange considering he'd finished his last bottle of Firewhiskey three weeks previously for Sirius' birthday celebrations. He gingerly opened his eyes and was startled to see familiar bright green orbs staring back at him worriedly.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Normally, he would've found it rather strange to have Lily Evans looking at him in concern for his health, let alone asking if he was alright, but what really made him jump out of his skin was the fact that she was wrapped in a rather small towel, dripping a wet patch onto the plush carpet.

It all came rushing back to him, every wonderful second of it and a wide grin spread itself across his face.

Without thinking, without consulting the Evans-voice in his head, without debating with himself for hours first, he jumped up, pulled her into a fierce hug, then proceeded to run from room to room yelling with happiness.

By the time he'd done a hysterical loop of the first floor and skidded to a stop in front of an extremely bemused redhead, he still hadn't composed himself enough to speak. He stared at her, unable to quite believe that it was actually happening. He had gone into the future and Lily Evans was his wife. And, she was now stood in front of him wearing only a towel. Life didn't get much better.

_How in the devil did that happen? How did you persuade me to get within even a metres distance of you, let alone marry you? It can't be true. I would never do that willingly._

"I didn't imperio you, did I?" he blurted out in horror.

"No." She looked startled and amused at the same time. "Why would you?"

He took her by the arms and asked desperately, "Are you sure you're not under my control? I'm not making you do anything?"

"Look, what is wrong with you? Did you bang your head? You haven't got a concussion, have you?" She stared up into his face with concern.

"Pinch me."

"What?"

"Pinch me. I need to know I'm not dreaming."

Her brow furrowed and she put a hand to his forehead. "You're not dreaming but you are starting to scare me. Are you feeling okay?"

_You must be dreaming. There is no way that I would ever be this concerned over your health._

He ignored the voice and sent the real Lily standing before him a beaming smile. "I'm absolutely wonderful."

"Hmm," she said with a frown, obviously unconvinced, and turned towards the wardrobe in the corner of the room. "Why don't you go and get some breakfast while I'm getting dressed? And then you can explain why you're acting so strange."

He nodded half-heartedly and made his way from the bedroom and tried hard not to think about the vision of her all wet and naked in the shower that was now seared into his eyelids.

After several detours and wrong turns James finally found himself stood in the centre of a small and welcoming kitchen so clean it practically screamed 'Cook in me!'

He sat at the breakfast table and tried to logically work out what had happened to him. Even in the wizarding world it was unusual to find yourself in such a situation. For starters, he had expected to be transported to Hogwarts, to his own Dorm room, just in the future. Obviously, that hadn't happened and he had a nasty suspicion that he'd made an enormous mistake in thinking it was a standard Time Turner.

"So who are you and what have you done with my husband?" she asked as she came strolling into the kitchen, now fully dressed.

He jumped at the question. Did she know he was an impostor? How had she figured it out? More importantly, what would she do to him? Knowing Lily, something terrible.

Noticing the horrified expression she paused before adding a tea bag to the cup of hot water. "It's an expression, don't look so scared. What is wrong with you today anyway?"

"Nothing," he squeaked out, making him kick himself for being so obvious.

She sat at the table and stared at him, obviously not believing a word he said. She gave him the famous Evans look that could squeeze a secret from a Goblin. He had no chance. "Really?"

He didn't trust himself to speak.

"You're not my husband, are you?"

His jaw dropped and his eyes nearly popped out in shock. Unless she was a legimens, he was much easier to read than he'd thought. He couldn't control his faculties as he felt himself shake his head 'no'.

"I knew it!" she cried brandishing her wand at him within the blink of an eye. "Who are you? And tell the truth, because I know hexes that could send your insides to liquid."

He held up his hands in surrender, desperate for her not to strike. "No! I really am James Potter, I'm just not your husband!"

To his surprise and relief she lowered her wand and tapped it against her chin, thoughtfully. "Aha. I wondered when this might happen. How strange," she said as she studied his wide-eyed expression. "You can stop being scared now. I'm not going to hex you."

He wasn't convinced.

"Explain," she ordered.

He gulped and complied in a rush of words. "I- well, not me- Sirius- found a time turner and I- well- I used it."

He would've expected her to shout or scream, or at least show some form of shock, but Lily just stared at him thoughtfully. "A time turner, you say? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I know a time turner when I see one, thank you very much! I'm not an idiot!" he exclaimed indignantly, even though a nagging doubt tugged at the back of his mind. "It was a small, gold hour-glass; a standard time turner! It must have gone wrong or been faulty or something."

She sighed and he could tell she was trying not to smile. "That was no time turner. It was a time _switcher_ and that is a very different device."

James frowned. Somehow it made sense, and he suddenly had the overwhelming desire to kill his best friend for doing this to him, accidentally or not. "How do you know? They look exactly the same!"

"Easy," Lily said, smiling, and he had the feeling that she was laughing at him as she fingered the necklace dangling from her throat and held it for him to see. "Did it look like this? Time turners are silver, time switchers are gold. Simple, really, if you pay attention."

He slapped a hand to his head and cursed himself for his stupidity. "No one ever told me about that!" he stormed and began to pace the kitchen furiously. "The general public should be told about this! It's an outrage! It could cause catastrophes- no, it has caused a catastrophe! I cannot believe this!"

While he was rambling, she stood and calmly began to make another cup of tea. The fact that she was so composed while he was practically having a nervous breakdown just made him even madder. How could he be so stupid as to mess up bloody time travel- it was practically burnt into every living witch and wizard's mind not to screw with time and what does he do? Go and get it wrong! He felt like such a prat.

"Oh, stop being so dramatic. It's done now. Come and have a chat."

He silenced and stared at her with confusion. She wanted to chat? She was more bizarre than he would've guessed. Nevertheless, he sat across from her, taking the offered cup of tea and studied her. She looked pretty much the same as her fifteen year old self. Her flaming hair looked a little longer, her figure a little fuller, but more or less she was the same girl who ignored him daily.

"What year are you from?" she asked him.

"1975."

"Ha! You've barely travelled at all!" she exclaimed, obviously surprised. "It's only 1978 now."

He blinked in stunned silence. In three years they would be married. Three years. 156 weeks. 1095 days. Probably less. In less than a few years it would be perfectly normal for Lily Evans to invite him to join her for a shower. It was a dream- a wonderfully glorious dream- but a dream nonetheless. It had to be. There was no way in hell she would marry him that quickly. Maybe if he had a few decades to work on her she might give in, but just a few years? This had to be a mistake. Half-expecting the Marauders to jump out and yell 'Gotcha!' he asked, "We're married in a three years time?"

She noticed his astonished expression and laughed. "Don't be so shocked! Next week we'll have been married for three months."

"Three months?"

"Yep. To be honest, I don't know how I've coped this long. You're a nightmare."

James closed his eyes, hating himself. He'd been given that one chance and he'd blown it. She'd actually married him and, as usual, he'd acted like an arse and screwed it up. Typical.

"I'm joking, you know."

His head snapped up and he saw her grinning at him over the rim of her mug. "Joking?"

"You sound as though the concept's new to you."

"I'm an ok husband then? I'm not making you desperately unhappy?" He needed to know, even if she was joking. If he was treating her badly…he would never be able to forgive himself.

He opened his eyes as he felt her hand cover his to see her smiling at him softly. "No. I'm not unhappy."

"You aren't?"

"Nope."

Thank Merlin.

"So what are you doing in Charms at the moment?"

He did a double take. "What?"

"What are you doing in Charms at the moment?"

He frowned at her, baffled. "I don't take Charms."

"Yes, you do," she insisted.

He was sure he didn't…There was the lesson with the cauldrons, the one with the crystal balls, the one where they got to mess around turning frogs into princes, the one with the plants…"Which one is Charms again?"

She quirked a small smile and he knew she was trying not to laugh at his stupidity. "The one with Professor Flitwick- you know, the little guy? And it's the subject where you swish your wand about and things get charmed." She spoke to him slowly, as though he was a five year old, which he greatly resented. But he still didn't understand what she was talking about.

"I'm sure I didn't take it. I would know, wouldn't I?"

She sighed in long-suffering resignation. "Well, obviously you don't. I know you were in it for a fact because you spent the whole time trying to get my attention by prodding me in the back of the head and setting fire to Severus's hair."

Oh._ That_ Charms. "Hey, it was Sirius, not me, who set Snape on fire. I told him off for it too- he really should know better than doing that in front of a teacher!"

"I'm so proud." She rolled her eyes sarcastically.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked, studying her. "What made you change your mind? How come we married so quickly? Why did you marry me? I always thought you hated the sight of me."

She smiled at him softly. "I never hated you."

"But you-"

"I actually kind of liked you."

"What? But-"

"I was a good girl and good girls most certainly do not like bad boys. Its very complicated. You'll never understand female logic so there's no point in explaining why I acted as I did."

"Ok." He frowned stupidly. He wondered if this was the extent of their future relationship. She gave him hints about the feminine mystique and he was bewildered. How could Lily have actually _liked_ him? Just yesterday she had called him a stuck-up slug who should get his act together. Surely, those were not the words of an infatuated girl?

"Oh, stop looking so baffled. I'll let you in on a secret." Apparently she had taken pity on him. "I never hated you, you were just confusing. Everyone else I could figure out easily but you…You were an idiot in front of me, but I saw you when you thought I wasn't looking. And you were _normal."_

"Normal?" James was highly affronted by even the suggestion. He'd always thought himself rather special. Extraordinary, even.

"You frustrated me." She was sporting a frown now and she looked off into the distance , as if recalling long forgotten memories. "I knew you had admirable qualities but it annoyed the hell out of me that I seemed to bring out the worst in you."

Suddenly, James felt ashamed. She was right. It wasn't her fault that he had acted like a complete nincompoop in front of her, cursing people, showing off, swaggering…not one of his chosen strategies had even the slightest chance in working but he was at a loss at how to compose a plan not involving smirking and flirting and pranking to impress her.

"How do I do it then? How do I manage to get you to marry me?"

She studied him with a frown and pursed her lips, weighing him up for size. Finally, she seemed to come to a decision as she carefully put her mug down, folded her arms and looked him directly in the eyes. "It was gradual, of course. It wasn't as if one day you turned into Mr Perfect and I started to swoon."

"So I didn't sweep you off your feet?" he asked, disappointedly. He'd had a rather grand vision of gracefully flying her away on his broomstick or filling a room with thousands of lilies or making a firework display spelling out 'I love you, Lily.'

"Not in so many words." She smiled in recollection. "You tried, but I wasn't having any of it. Simplicity was better. We both grew up and all the bad feelings between us just drifted away with time. We both got over it."

"Oh. That's not very exciting though is it?"

"Well, I didn't exactly make it easy," she admitted with a chagrined smile. "I fought you every step of the way until before I knew it you'd got me to the altar and I didn't really want to fight anymore."

"So I win your heart through grit and determination and I'm so wonderful I didn't need any silly romantic gimics?" he asked hopefully.

She patted his hand in a maternal sort of way and smiled at him indulgingly. "Of course."

"So…what happens now? Am I stuck here forever?"

"I'm afraid so. No hope for you. You'll eventually feel disjointed and out of sync with the world, leading to the near total break down of your mind."

"What?" It took him a few horrified second to notice the smirk on her face. "Oh. You're joking."

The smirk flourished into a smile and his heart beat a little bit faster. "James, don't worry. I'll have you home in no time. Here," she said as she pulled the time switcher from around her neck. "All you need to do is turn this once anti-clockwise, click your heels three times and say 'there's no place like home'."

He frowned as he took it from her, not sure whether he should trust her wide grin. "How do you know all this?" he asked.

"How do you think, James? _You_ gave it me. _You_ told me that this would happen. When you get back to school you're going to research time switchers so that by the time you end up marrying me you'll know what _I_ need to know to get you back."

"Research?" He winced and his shoulders slumped. "As in books? In the Library?" He gulped. He'd never done 'research'; he'd never had to and he had fully intended for it to stay that way. The Library was full of evil geniuses, of scary 'shushers', of smelly books, of inforced silence. It was truly one of his most feared places. Maybe he could get-

"And no, you can't get Remus to do it for you." She sent him a strict look that was extremely McGonagall-esque. "You can't tell anyone."

"Why not?

"Two words: Time continuum." At his glum face, she added, "Don't look so miserable. A bit of reading won't do you any harm. And, between you and me, it wouldn't hurt to know a little extra about time travel and its consequences when it comes to taking your O.W.L.s…" She gave him a significant look.

"You, Lily Evans, are actually helping me cheat at an exam?" He stared at her in mounting delight. "I've corrupted you!"

"I still don't approve of cheating." She sent him a stern look but he didn't believe it for a second. "Giving you a little extra incentive can't hurt much."

He rubbed his hands together with glee. "I feel an Outstanding O.W.L. coming on. Got anymore hints you'd like to dish out?"

She stood up, biting back a smile and said, "I think you should be going now."

James never told anyone what had happened to him that day. He doubted many people would believe him. He didn't even tell the Marauders, his fellow rapscallions and confidantes, which was a definite first. Even at age fifteen he trusted each and every one of them with his life; he just didn't trust them to resist gleefully letting slip to Lily what her future held. They would mean well but James had a feeling that if Lily found out what had happened she would not only spontaneously combust but would also accuse him of being a liar. No- he would keep his experience to himself and just hope that it had been real and not the result of some sort of mental trauma.

However, his newfound knowledge had one particularly profound advantage. He didn't lose hope. Despite her aloofness, her dislike, her vehement exclamations over how awful he was, he knew that eventually she would see him for who he really was and she would like him. In the end, she would stop fighting him and start loving him.  
Unfortunately, this induced a certain level of smugness in his manner, for which he could offer no explanation to those who found themselves severely befuddled and vexed by it.

"What is your problem, Potter?" Lily Evans snapped at him several days after he had returned from his most extraordinary journey.

He stopped mid- smug grin and stared down at her in surprise.

"James."

"What?" She snapped with a frown on her face.

"My name is James," he replied softly. "Why don't you ever use my name, Lily?"

"I- I- You've got to be joking!" Her eyes had widened in amazement.

He ignored her astonished expression. He just smiled at her, a warm, real smile that made her face flush and her eye brows disappear into her hairline, and continued past her down the corridor. He knew she was glaring after him. He wasn't worried. He began to whistle. He knew that some day she would call him James.


End file.
